Saturday, January 29, 2011

Well, I landed around 11am the day before yesterday. The flight home was surprisingly short, with only 20 hours of travel, as opposed to 36 hours on the way there. The food was worse, but I finally finished watching 3 Idiots, the movie I tried to watch several times on the way to Bangkok from Tokyo. We even had time to breathe in Tokyo airport, but not enough time to look around. A couple students changed money to buy a bottle of water. Or what looked like a can of lemon sparkling water, which turned out to be beer. Good times.

Anyway, after I landed at 11am, I went to my dads house (Mom was still in Ecuador, so Dad picked me up). He brought me out to lunch, then back to his house. I tried to stay up, but I decided to take an hour nap around 2:30. I woke up around 11:30pm, and played around on the internet until 4:30, when I went back to bed. I couldn't sleep past 8, though, and decided to just have a long day. I gave Dad and his wife their souvenirs, then Dad brought me to Mom's house, where she had just returned from her trip.

After exchanging pictures and souvenirs, we had dinner with my brother, and I went to bed at 7ish. I woke up around 2:30, but stayed in bed until 5:30, then gave up trying to sleep. My body is very confused. I'm used to the opposite time of day and the opposite season (err, rather, what I know feels like the opposite season, but is actually winter).

All my pics are in the process of uploading to facebook, so you can view them there. You can even see pics of me that other people took. Like me on an elephant!

Today is our last day in Thailand. Sad! I don't want to leave Thailand. I want to travel around to different cities and get out of Bangkok. I feel so anxious in Bangkok because it's always crowded and busy and takes forever to get anywhere. Ah well, Sabai Sabai!

We get up early this morning to go to the Floating Market, which is about an hour and a half out of Bangkok. It's like other markets, only the stalls are boats, and we're in boats and the vendors hook us with poles and pull us in to their boats. I like markets, but they all sell the same things, and when you don't have the option to walk away, it gets a little irritating to keep saying no and ignoring the vendor til your boatman starts paddling more. It was fun once we got to walk around, though. I bought a tacky hat/fan and a pretty green tunic shirt, which is probably a dress on Thai people. Too Tall for Thailand!

After, we ate lunch at a fancy hotel, where we were reunited with Julia, our classmate who has been in the hospital with pneumonia for a few days. One of the waiters was the Thai version of Neil Patrick Harris. I should have taken a picture. We debriefed as a class, and one person did the last presentation (the partner of Julia, who did a presentation for Ryan at the hospital instead, because we weren't sure she'd be out before everyone else left). Then we went to MBK, the giant shopping mall of Bangkok. It's not so great. Too much stuff to be able to enjoy it. Not many people from our class bought anything there. There are 7 floors, and each store has the same products as all the other stores on the floor. I don't know how they stay in business.

Then the group of 4 I was with grabbed the water taxi home. The water taxis have stops at different places along the river and canals, and you just wait on the side of the dock in the direction you want to go until the boat comes along. Then you climb in the boat, which was holding a couple dozen people, and a ticket lady walks around the outside of the boat on a small ledge (about 4 inches), and gives you a ticket for however much baht that taxi costs (9baht in this case). It's pretty fun. It's like a boatbus. We got out on the last stop, which is closest to our hotel, but is also in a super busy intersection with about 8 different roads coming into it, in a confusing area of Bangkok (aren't all areas of Bangkok confusing?). Hence, we got lost. Crossed a lot of roads, walked a lot. Finally, we gave in and got a tuktuk to bring us home. We paid 100baht to go about 6 blocks. However, they were 6 blocks we never would have thought to walk. We would have wandered for hours, lost, asking people for directions and getting different advice each time.

Anyway, we went to dinner at 6pm. We ate on a tourist dinner boat, with a dance show. Similar to the Lanna dinner when we left Chiang Mai, we got a show of traditional Thai dance and music. The food was as good and yet also as odd as the Lanna dinner. The boat trip was very nice though, and we had a good time. Dessert was fruit (pineapple, papaya and roseapple, which is delicious and you should try some if you can find it in the states) and traditional Thai dessert, which were all these gummy jelly things, and a prune, served in individual banana leaf bowls. Oddest things, but they tasted good.

When we got back, I went to get my finished suits. They look awesome, and I got 2 custom-tailored suits for 4000baht, or approximately $135 dollars. The jackets look best. I never look good in jackets, because my body type is too boyish for women's jackets, and men's jackets aren't fitted enough for me. I look great! Especially with my new haircut. I was also videotaped and photographed for their promotional material because I won their special promotion. Also, they included the garmet bag, which means I also have something in which to carry my winter coat! Thanks, komodo dragons! I appreciate the fortune you've brought me!

Now, since we leave for the airport at 3am, I'm going to go let fish eat my feet, maybe get a facial or something, and drink lots of coffee so I can sleep on the second flight and get a normal Minnesotan time sleep. I'll allow myself to sleep in 11 or 12hours, even though I've been up for 17 already today. I would rather get over jetlag fairly quickly.

Overall, I'm really glad I came to Thailand, and I am sad to be leaving, but I want to come back one day, and spend some time in other regions of Thailand and Asia.

Today was our second free day! I organized a trip to the beach (about 2 hours away) for 16 of us. Unfortunately, one is in the hospital with pneumonia, so only 15 of us went. It was so nice to go to the beach, though. The sun was hot, the breeze was cool and the water was like bathwater. We decided we were done with crazy tourist locations, so we went to the “locals” beach called Cha-am. More farang were on the beach than locals, but it was still much less crowded and fewer vendors. Lovely day overall, with a nice lunch of chicken burger with pineapple and a pineapple smoothie. Yum!

When we got back, I showered quickly, and then went to get adjustments on my custom-tailored suits. Hoorah! Now it's on to paper-writing. Boo...

Today we went on a touristy day with Tony, our tour guide. We left early in the morning, and started off the day at a meditation center. We pull up to the curb, and step out into this wonderland just outside of Bangkok. The meditation center is also a nunnery. No monks, only nuns. They're so cute with their shaved heads and white robes. Also, they are much nicer than the monk at the meditation center we went to before. Their garden is walled in, but you can hear the sounds of traffic and construction amid the sounds of fountains and birds. There was no large Buddha statue. Instead, a pagoda with a relic inside was in the center of the room, with circles of flowers surrounding it. Much less imposing when we're all in a circle, instead of facing the monk at the head of the room with a huge Buddha behind him. We did a quick prayer, then went outside for 10 minutes of meditation before the nun arrived. The nunnery was founded in 1988, and provides parenting classes to pregnant women and families (including single-parent families), in addition to the meditation retreats it offers. I wish we had done our meditation retreat there. Ah well. The nun we spoke to mostly translated Thai through Tony and her novice, but she could speak English a little, and was fluent in Hmong. She actually was Hmong, and was glad to talk to our Hmong-American students on the trip. We then took a tour of the center grounds. It is so peaceful and open, yet removed from the busy city. There were ponds and statues and winding forest paths, and new construction of a waterfall into the irrigation ditch, so it would be more part of nature.

After, she gave us books and sent us on our way to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was the old capital of Thailand until the early 1700s, when Burma invaded for the second time and destroyed most of the city. The ruins of the royal wats are still there, and that's what we went to see. The temple grounds are so extensive, and we could wander for an hour and not see the same place twice. The pagodas are mostly opened because they would place a persons valuables in them with their ashes when they died, so grave robbers have opened them and taken the gold, etc. Also, all of the Buddha statues (hundreds of them), are missing their heads. All of the gold has been removed, and the heads cut off to sell. Bad karma for the cutter, but lots of money, too. There is an iconic image of the head of a Buddha that has been absorbed by the roots of the bodhi tree, and the body disappeared. It was pretty cool to see. Almost as if the holy tree were retaining at least one head for the temple, when the rest were cut off and sold on the black market.

We then went to the Summer Palace, near Ayutthaya. This is where the royal family goes for the summer (thanks, Captian Obvious), and was the royal palace of the old Thai kingdom. There are many ponds there, and it's near a river, so it's easy to see why they go there in the summer. Natural air conditioning! Anyway, we took farang pictures with bushes shaped like animals, and walked around the grounds. We noticed a large reptile on the edge of a pond. Is that a baby crocodile? Then it turned to look at us. A komodo dragon! Cool! We then saw another and another, all in or around the ponds. We ran into Tony, who told us they had moved in and no one removed them. They used to be bad luck to see, but it changed when they were found on the palace grounds to mean fortune and wealth. I guess a cultural construct is easier to change than it would be to remove a dozen komodo dragons. He also told us they were wild and dangerous and we should keep our distance if we saw more. We then turned around the building we were near only to see three of our classmates about two feet from one of the dragons. One was trying to pet it. It was tasting the air. “Anna! Get back!” They didn't hear us. Finally, Katrina yells “Anna! Those are wild and dangerous!” They scurried back to the path quickly. You should youtube videos of komodo dragons hunting. Scary stuff!

Anyway, when we got back to the hotel, I noticed the tailor shop in the lobby was having their grand opening party. So, I go in and enter my name in the drawing for a free suit. I also tell everyone else in my class about it. Guess who won the free custom-made suit? I did! Guess the komodo dragon paid off, after all. I can pick it up tomorrow night! I also bought another one, because it's 4000baht, so $135 or so for a custom-made business suit. I was going to get one made anyway! One is black, and the other is grey pinstripe. It'll look great!

Early morning wake up today at 6:30, then breakfast at the buffet. I had french toast, pancakes, eggs, fruit, cereal with yogurt and fruit and coffee. Very nummy! We met up with Tony again and he brought us to a very touristy wat with a giant reclining Buddha. Then he brought us to another temple with an Emerald Buddha (it's actually jade, but the only jade I could see was on his face, because he was wearing winter clothes). Then we went to the royal palace. So touristy and gold and shiny and crowded and hot. Not the funnest morning.

After, we went to Thamassan University, where there was a massacre of over a hundred students by the military and police because the students were holding a peaceful protest for democracy in 1976. That was more interesting, and we were only there because Ryan asked Tony to take us there instead of more wats. We are so wat-ed out. No more monks, no more offerings, no more blessings, no more gold leaf, please.

After we returned, we got lunch (street pad thai), and then had the other half of the presentations for 4 hours. Again, kind of a long time to do presentations, but it was okay overall. Then some of us desperately tried to escape the tourist bubble by going to a less touristed area. However, we could not find a tuktuk cheap enough nor a taxi willing to use the meter. So we walked around Khao San Road again. Crowded, whorish, farang kinok and gross.

I got a hair cut, though! Super short! I'm very excited for it. It'll look better in MN when it will grow out a bit and not be as humid.

Today was our first day in Bangkok! So far, I miss Chiang Mai. It's so different. Bangkok is dirty, hot, and touristy. There are “massage parlors” everywhere, tattoo parlors everywhere, “ping pong” shows (involves ping pong balls and ladies with talented pelvic muscles), and dozens of pad thai street vendors.

Anyway, we left Chiang Mai at 5am, and ate yogurt and granola bars for breakfast on the bus ride to the airport. When we got there, we went through sorriest excuse for security. It was an old metal detector and a bag scanner right next to the door. Arty went through too, even though she didn't have a boarding pass. It was confusing. Then we got our boarding passes, and Arty led us to the Bangkok Air lounge, where we had free food and coffee! Yay! Anyway, Arty left us, and we went through another weak security check (shoes on, laptop in the bag, liquids in the bag, left the sweatshirt on, didn't ask for a boarding pass).

The flight was short and I slept the first half, but then they brought out breakfast (cheese roll and fruit), and I kind of drifted in and out of sleep again. I couldn't sleep again because we are already descending and I had to chew gum to keep my ears from popping. Didn't work. My ears hurt for a while.

When we landed, we got our luggage and met our tour guide, Tony. He is originally from Chiang Mai, so we could understand his slow accent better than maybe a person for Bangkok.

Tony brought us on a boat tour of Bangkok, the Venice of Thailand. The city has a canal system built into it from when boat was the fastest way to get around. We saw some wats, and stopped at one and climbed the tallest pagoda in Bangkok. The stairs got steeper with every level. Ascending, no problem. Descending, I was clutching to the railing like an old woman, creeping down sideways. My thigh hurts. We also went to a part of the canal with a lot of fish, and fed them fish. The fish are Asian Carp, which are trying to be eradicated in the US, but they're protected here in Thailand. Interesting. The boat transportation was interesting, but I was hopping in and out with no problem at the end.

We finally checked into our hotel, which is the fanciest in the old city. (Although the old city is described as “bohemian heart of Bangkok,” which basically means it's full of dirty hippies and beggars.) Anyway, it's also fancy because it has a pool and fridges in the rooms, and our shower has a bathtub! Ooh... Xee and I live on the 6th floor with about half our group.

When we got to the hotel, we had some time to go and eat, then went to do presentations all afternoon. It was a little boring, but it wasn't bad. We were there for about 4 hours. After, we tried to find dinner for cheap that wasn't pad thai, which is everywhere. We ended up getting rice noodle soup with pork (the other option was liver). Then for dessert, we had roti (chocolate), then mango and sticky rice, then ice cream! At the ice cream place, we were approached by students to take a marketing survey for their class. After they left, two other students asked us the same thing (same class, different group). They gave us a postcard after to thank us.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Well, I don't particularly like Bangkok. Dirty, sex-crazed, tourist dump compared to the heaven that is Chiang Mai. I'll put full posts up about Bangkok when I get back on the 27th. In any case, still having fun. I won a free custom-tailored suit! Woot!

Friday, January 21, 2011

I feel like our trip is over. We still have 5 days left, but it's the 5 days in Bangkok at the end of our trip, so it's the end of our trip...

Today was a first of 3 presentations days. We all gave a 5-10 minute presentation on ethnographic observations we made and cultural interpretations of those observations. I discussed how the early socialization of children into linguistically and visually distinct and strictly defined gender roles reproduces the gender hierarchy of men over women in Thai society. I love being a Womens Studies and Sociology major. Topics ranged from public displays of affection to clothing to differences in behavior in age groups to driving habits. Considering we were in presentations from 9-4 with an hour and half break for lunch, we had a lot of fun listening to each others interpretations.

For dinner, we had a class group dinner at "traditional" Lanna dinner. Lanna is the ancient kingdom of Northern Thailand. Tourist attraction hardcore. they fed us regional foods (but the spice was toned down for us Farang), and danced and performed traditional music in traditional costumes with traditional instruments. Most of it was tacky, but it was fun. I'll have a lot of pictures from other people after we share.

Tomorrow, we leave at 5am for a flight to Bangkok, where we will have 2 more presentation days of readings we've done through the course.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Today was an early morning! We went with our tour guide, Arty, to her village to visit her uncle's temple and see the community service project he does there. Her uncle is a monk (and younger than her) and works with HIV+ women in the community to form support and reduce stigma in the village for HIV+ people. Because they can't work as much as a food vendor or farmer (between taking care of their kids, their parents, their husbands (who is HIV+, if alive), and their husbands parents, and fighting against economic discrimination for HIV+ people, the womens economic prospects are limited), they have all been trained to sew. Mainly, they sew outfits for monks in Japan, but they also make other things to sell, or things other customers demand. I bought an HIV/AIDS awareness bag for 130baht.

Then we went to a Leprosy Hospital which is not a rehabilitation center and nursing home, located near Chiang Mai. It was the first care center for people with leprosy in Thailand and was founded by a Presbyterian missionary. It is still very Christian and promotes Christianity through its services, but performs good services for people with disabilities, so it is probably good that it's here. Plus, the island was unused because the locals believed it was haunted by the spirit of a rampaging white elephant, so at least the space is being used, even though I would argue it could be used more effectively because there is a lot of space dedicated to empty buildings.

Anyway, we ate lunch at her friends house. She's a ladyboy and she's teaches cooking classes. She's wonderful. She made a delicious lunch of spring rolls, cashew chicken stir-fry and chicken and eggplant green curry. She then entertained us by answering all of our questions about being trans in Thailand. Ladyboy have bad reputation for being prostitutes and cheating people, but not most of them do that. If they've had surgery (top or bottom), they don't have to serve in the military. However, they are not allowed to legally change their gender, so her passport says male, not female. She was also very beautiful, with classy makeup and a modest yet flattering dress. I find it interesting how she exuded the ideals of Thai women's appearance better than most Thai women do. Probably because she has to try harder to prove she's a real woman. The same thing certainly happens with transpeople in the US.

After we got back, I got 2 coffees and did homework. Later, I'll probably go eat Indian food in the mall and get bubble tea! And get a lot of street vendor food, like sticky rice and fruit and roti. It's crazy to think that tonight is our last free night in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we have a group dinner, then we leave early in the morning to fly to Bangkok. I don't want to leave! I love Chiang Mai! I guess I'll just have to go back one day!

Oh, and on a note about health: 3 people have been hospitalized with fevers and other illness symptoms at some point on the trip, but they're all doing better. One of them now has colitis, though. I got a rash on my collarbone, and developed a cough. Many of us, including me, have bedbugs.

Today we went to an NGO which works with HIV/AIDS affected kids (children whose parents have died from HIV/AIDS) and women who are infected with HIV/AIDS. They're a Christian organization which houses AIDS orphans and women and children dying from AIDS. Or at least that's how they started. Soon after, anti-retrovirals were introduced, and people stopped dying right away. Some kids have been living there since the mid-90s, and the HIV+ women have been living there for around a decade. Most of them have moved out of the shelter. It was a very interesting, moving NGO. They specifically help ethnic minorities in Thailand, mostly Akha and Lahu people. They have a kindergarten there as well to help Uplander kids learn how to behave in Thai schools (how to speak Thai, how to act in a classroom setting, etc). We got about 15 minutes to play with the kids on the playground. Crazy adorable! I pushed a train swing, and then the kids pushed me. It only took 1, though. Strong 5 year old!

Then we went to go eat lunch at ISDSI, which was our last time there with Pi Tik and Pi Carrie, who were our ISDSI teachers. We debriefed for an hour with them, then headed back to the hotel.

It was a homework-y afternoon. We have a 10 minute presentation on Friday, and a paired 30 minute presentation on Saturday, so we're all kinda overwhelmed with homework. After homework, some of us went to the mall for a pad thai dinner and bubble tea. There, we saw a strange sight. There were dozens of Thai women who were dressed really whorish-ly. Normally Thai women are pretty conservative, but all of these Thai women were wearing mini-dresses and mountains of make-up and accessories. They all went to the same place in the mall, so we figured they were going to a theme party or something.

Anyway, then we went to the night market to observe for our presentations and buy some last items. I got myself a coin purse (my other one broke), and a few hats for people. We also saw fish therapy feet tubs, where the fish eat your feet. But it was 120baht for 15 minutes. I would rather just get a real pedicure where fish eat my feet and not a night market booth. Also, I was wearing long tight pants, so it'd be hard to put my legs in water.

Then I worked on homework until the hotel worker came upstairs to turn off the lights in the lounge. I figured that was a good time to go to bed. Overall, I'm kind of glad we have a lot of homework. It demands reflection and speculation for what we've been seeing.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

We left at 9am to go to an NGO whose main operation is fish-farming. They breed tilapia, then sell the fry to locals to raise in their ponds, who sell them back later as larger fish, when the NGO sells them to local fish markets and companies. The fish food is primarily plankton, which are fed by manure from the local cow and pig farms. They also do work with the locals creating a Christian community using local traditions, such as language and music.

In any case, we got to help retrieve eggs from the breeding ponds. Yup, we got to go in armpit-deep manure-y mucky ponds to grab fish and flush the eggs from their mouths. Awesome! It was actually a lot of fun. However, many students needed different shoes that wouldn't get lost in the muck. My chacos were good for it, but a couple workers went to the local market and got a bunch of cheap crappy shoes. They brought them back and students tried to find ones that fit. That's when the fun started. Turns out, cockroaches like to live in crappy shoes, and at least 3 pairs had about 10 cockroaches living in the shoes. That was fun. And funny. Picture it: 22 college students and 2 women putting on shoes filled with cockroaches, then dumping them all over the ground and bashing the shoes, paranoid there are more (most of the time, they were right; they held on pretty well). Even people who didn't have bugs started double checking and triple checking. Needless to say, very glad I had my chacos.

Anyway, we walked through the muck and the uck in the pond towards the netted mating pairs. The workers in wetsuits dragged a net through it so we wouldn't miss any, and we proceeded to scoop them up in a net, put it over a larger net (the eggs would fall through the first net but not the second so the fish wouldn't crush the eggs), open the mothers mouth and gills, and dunk her head in the water to flush the eggs out of her mouth. Tilapia hatch completely in a week, so they check the fish once a week or so, and have a few dozen mating groups with 100 pairs in each net. Each group gives a few thousand eggs each time, so they go through a lot of fish.

After, we ate fried tilapia (which is hard for us Americans used to frozen filets, but not for the Thai people who aren't afraid of eating bones) with rice, a stir fry and fruit. Very delicious. We were also given a concert by the music specialists at the fish farm. It was interesting to hear the local instruments. One was violin-like, only held vertically and rotated to change strings. The sound box was a coconut.

After we returned home, and showered for a long, long time, a couple of us went to do some much-needed laundry. However, our laundry machine kept breaking and we eventually washed only one load of laundry in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Unfortunately, we budgeted 50 minutes, and were 30 minutes late to our class dinner at a fancy hotel restaurant on the roof. :( It was still fun though.

When we got back, we went right back out again to the bars. We started at Blar Blar Bar, where I proceeded to drink a 1/3 of a bottle of scotch with pepsi. Not so bad, taste-wise, but after that I knew I was done for the night already. At Warm Up later, another person in our group drank half the bottle, and she wanted more. But we cut her off when she started acting like Farang Kinok (birdshit farang). The Thai people are very reserved. At bars and clubs, if they're really drunk, they might sway a little bit and tap their foot to music. There were some Australians there who were dancing like crazy, jumping everywhere and bumping in to everyone. They got a lot of glares. When they asked us to dance with them, we said "No, Thai people don't dance." and they said "We're not Thai!" When in Rome does not apply to them, I guess. Studying culture may have given us more sensitivity to respecting local norms, and therefore improving our safety. Fun night overall, but even drunk little me was babysitting. Ah well! Sabai Sabai!

Today was a nice, relaxing day. We got to sleep in and didn't leave til 9:45. We only went to ISDSI for a 2 hour lecture, then had the rest of the day off! Hoorah!

After eating lunch at OrgVeg and doing some homework, a few of us went to get a Thai Massage. 200baht for an hour is well worth it! Including the 20baht tip, that is an hour-long full-body massage for $7.34! We went in the nice shop, where they gave us tea and clothes to change into. Loose, baggy, light blue fishermens pants and a loose, baggy spring green long-sleeve shirt. We proceeded to go up 2 flights of stairs (there's a bedroom on the 2nd floor. I will leave you to your own conclusions), and through a hallway and down another flight of stairs. We proceeded to get pulled on, elbowed, pushed, slapped, kicked and gently rubbed. I felt so nice afterwards, but she could have been a little rougher on me.

After, we went to the night market to get dinner. Harder than it sounds. I walked along while other people bought some things, looking for a place to eat. We walked by a couple Arabic, Irish, German and American restaurants (expensive, and we didn't want to eat at McDonald's or Burger King), to stumble upon this hole in the wall Thai place. Er.... hole in the buildings, because there were no walls on this restaurant. It was a street vendor kitchen in a lot with some tables with a tarp over it. When we figured out it was a restaurant, we got really excited that we finally found a place we were willing to eat. Forget the fancy foreign food, give us a sketchy Thai street restaurant! I had been craving Indian food, so I got yellow curry soup with chicken and a lemon smoothie for 100baht ($3.34). Yum!

After, we seelaw-ed back to the hotel, then out to the bars. We started off, fittingly, at Warm Up, which is a pretty popular bar. It's a chill place with a lot of tables and a live band, and a goldfish pond where the goldfish were about the length of my forearm. We tried to go to Blar Blar Bar, but it was closed for a staff party, and the other bars were too fancy/empty or too crowded.

So, we went to Mike's. Mike's is a restaurant chain like an American diner. I got a chicken cheeseburger combo with fries and a chocolate milkshake. It was a perfect late-night drunchies fix for only 160baht ($5.34).

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Today we left at 8am to go to Wat Doi Sutep, the Buddhist temple on the top of the mountain. Wat = temple, Doi = Mountain. I am not sure what Sutep means. Unfortunately, even though we were at breakfast before 7:30, we were not served any food by the time we had to leave. The main woman wasn't there the day before, so maybe her kitchen and routine were messed up. Breakfast yesterday took forever, too. Oh well, we were going up the windy mountain road anyway, so less food means less motion sickness.

The temple was a crazy tourist attraction. Very ornate and very crowded. Lots and lots of farang. Tour buses of French and Korean and Middle Eastern people, just to see this temple. We went there to do an ethnography of the people there, so the wider variety of tourists besides French, English, Australian, Kiwi and American was quite refreshing. The market that's grown around there also provided me with delicious waffles for breakfast. I think everything has sweetened condensed milk in it. Even ice cream has sweetened condensed milk on top for syrup. Not that I'm complaining, though. :)

After, we came back for lunch and a lecture, then had the rest of the afternoon off. I went to Wawee coffee, did some homework, had some delicious coffee. Then I went to the place in front of org veg for dinner, and had a pepsi with it. Much sweeter but not as acidic as in the US. I went back to the hotel, did more homework, then went out for the Sunday Walking Market. I got a bunch of gifts for people and myself. I spent a lot of money, but it was only $25, but that is 750baht. Considering my dinner was 30baht and my pepsi was 20baht, it's a lot of money. Anyway, we took a tuktuk back from the market, and it's a lot of fun to ride!

A few of us went out to a bar called Panda'n'Roll, listened to the live punk cover band, had a beer, and called it a night. It was a pretty touristy day. Fun night, but touristy. We did go down market alleyways that other farang did not go down, though. Not sure why people didn't go there, because there were a lot of good deals.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

We went to Wat U-Mong yesterday for an overnight meditation retreat. It was... interesting. We arrived at 9am. We learned how to meditate using sitting, standing, reclining and walking methods. Walking is my favorite. While we were at the Wat, we had to obey all 8 Buddhist Precepts, not only the 5 that laymen follow. They are:

Panatipata veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyani: I undertake the precept to refrain from taking the life of any living creature (Ironically, we ate chicken while there)

Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyana: I undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given.

Abrahmacariya veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyani: I undertake the precept to refrain from incelibacy

musavada veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyana: I undertake the precept to refrain from false and harmful speech

surameraya-majja-pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyana: I undertake the precept to refrain from consuming intoxicating drink and drugs which lead to carelessness

vikalabhojana veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyana: I undertake the training rule to abstain from eating at improper times (from noon to 7am, no eating. Only breakfast at 7:30 and lunch at 11).

Uccasayana mahasayana veramani sikkhapadarn samadiyana: I undertake the training rule to abstain from the use of high and large seats and beds (we slept on a mat made out of grasses).

Yup, those are the 8 rules. Anyway, we meditated for a couple hours every couple hours. About 9 hours total. We went to bed at 9pm, and got up at 4:30am for morning chanting and meditation. Yup, 5:30am, I was sitting outside, eyes closed, trying to not think and not fall asleep. Overall, the meditation wasn't bad. The Buddhism isn't that bad. The monk was... sexist? I think sexist, more so than necessary for a leader of a sexist religion who grew up in a sexist society and is now sexually repressed. Made comments like how women are complicated, and therefore need more rules. Or asked “teacher” a question, but didn't mean the woman with the PhD, but her male student who wants to teach, and actually cut her off mid-sentence when she started to answer. Not the best monk I've met by far. I much preferred the other monks at monk chat, but he says that monk chat is not as good as his monk chat. Also, he says Ladyboys and gay men cannot be monks, but we saw Ladyboy monks at other temples, and we have been told that Ladyboys and gay men can be monks as well. He later made fun of a male student for sounding gay when he accidentally said “-ka” instead of “-krup” at the end of a sentence. He blatantly favored the four male students over even our professor. When he asked for questions, and girls raised their hands, he asked the boys to ask questions when they did not have their hands raised. He also took three of the boys on a private field trip, and completely ignored the girl who went along as well. He gave them keychains and his email address, and took theirs. He even went so far as taking his favorite boy on a private walk, and asked him how often he masturbates. It was really strange.

In any case, it put a damper on the whole meditation retreat. As if not eating enough food, sleeping on the floor of a closet (my bedroom was 4x6feet, and freezing), and being sent outside at 5am when it was chilly weren't enough, right? I would put up with that and the sexist religion that says even the youngest male infant or most infamous criminal is a higher status than the most admired and respected women.

Anywho, I took a long shower when I got back, went to the mall, did homework with an iced mocha, and ate half a pineapple. Calmed down. Felt happy. :)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Last night was pretty fun. We all piled in a seelaw, and stopped to get pad thai and roti and drinks on the way to Maria's. Then we walked about 15 minutes down the road to Maria's house. We were supposed to meet Surat at Maria's street, but we walked so fast that we passed her before she came to meet us. We got to the end of the street, and were very confused. While lost Farang may be a target, 19 lost Farang are not. We were just a spectacle for the kids who live in the houses around there. It was a pretty fun night, and we were home by 10 for a short nights sleep.

We got up at 5:15 to go give alms to the monks who walk by the morning market on their morning alms run at 6am. I paid 30 baht ($1) for a ready-to-eat meal and a flower.

“Nimon-ka” I said to the monk, wai-ing.

He stopped, and open the alms bowl monks carry with them. I put the food in there, careful not to touch the bowl, put the flower on top. Then I wai-ed really low to the ground in a crouch as he blessed me, and went on his way with his food. All monks are not allowed to eat after noon, and many only eat one meal a day which they cannot ask for, nor can they purchase (they have no money). If I were Buddhist, I would have earned some merit for my family, so my parents would have better karma, and improve their next life. I think that's how it works, anyway. Not so sure. The Sanskrit translated to Thai translated to not-so-great English with a thick accent loses some meaning along the way.

After feeding the monks, we went back to the hotel, and most people went to bed. I stayed up and did homework, though. I was a little behind on reading and writing, nor was I that tired. When breakfast opened at 7, I had quite a bit of coffee, then went back to work until it was time to leave.

We went to ISDSI, got a lecture on:

(1) Why we should dress modestly while with ISDSI (and I mean really modestly. Minimum cap sleeves with a crew neck, preferably pants but as long as our knees don't show, we could wear a skirt or capris)

(2) Thai Buddhism (this was the main lecture)(also a very thick accent, but he was funny). I got chosen (mid-yawn) to answer the pop quiz question from the speaker, Saemwang (sounds like “someone”) about what causes suffering in the world, according to Buddhism. I answered correctly with “desire.” Craving and desire cause suffering because of greed and hate. I have adopted a few precepts over the years to my “meligion,” and most of the Eightfold path is on there. Google it. I'll blog about it some other time.

(3) What to expect at our temple stay tomorrow night. No makeup, no perfume, no deodorant. Sounds like my kind of place! I am not sure what to expect actually, because they just told us stuff to bring and what not to do, so I still have no idea what we're going to do. Sabai Sabai! (It means “It's good, it's good!).

After, we ate delicious lunch with curried chicken, cooked cauliflower and cherry tomatoes, and rice with peanut sauce. Yum! We piled into the seelaws, and went to a temple for Monk Chat.

Monk Chat is a time where people can come and talk to monks and ask them questions. None of the 4 monks I spoke with were Thai, though. They were Burmese or Cambodian. There are different rules for Thai monks. Thai monks must shave their heads more closely and their eyebrows. Thai monks are not allowed to touch women, even indirectly. Putting food in the alms bowl is ok, as long as women don't touch the alms bowl. Burmese monks can touch women directly, as long as their heart is pure. We asked a lot of questions for well over an hour, about technology (monks can only use technology to help communicate with lay people, so cell phones and internet), education (all the monks we talked to planned to be monks for life, but “future cannot see,” and they were all getting bachelors degrees in Buddhist studies), communication (all of the non-Thai monks speak English as their primary language at the wat, because they can speak better English than Thai), and differences between Thai and other nearby culture. The monks say the Buddhism is the same as their countries, but that the culture changes how it works, like the touching women rule, for instance. That is only really in Thailand, not in Burma or Sri Lanka.

We also bought outfits for our trip to the meditation center. We must wear all white, loose appropriate clothing, so the best place to get it is at temples. We got a white t-shirt and a pair of white fishermen pants. Should be a comfortable couple of days at the center. Like I said, not sure what to expect, but you'll find out when I post next!

After I spent the afternoon reading, some of us went to find a place to do laundry. I had the hotel do some vitals, but it's expensive, like 50baht for a pair of pants, and 20baht per shirt. So I took the rest of my laundry to find a laundromat. The closest thing we found was Laundry House, where you put 20baht into the machine, put soap in, and either wait or leave. If you leave, the attendant will take your clothes and hang them to dry. You pick them up the next evening and they're dried and ironed. However, I just stuffed them in a plastic bag, and brought them back to the hotel to hang dry. Who needs neatly pressed clothing?

On our way home, we decided to stop and eat. We decided to try the Italian place Charlie said would be good. Turns out it's super fancy and expensive. Fancy enough where they unfold your napkin and put it on your lap for you. And here we are, backpacks and bags of wet clothes in hand. We learned a new phrase during the ISDSI lecture: farang kinoi. Birdshit foreigners. That's what we felt like. But, we ate there anyway, because we couldn't leave. Luckily, it was happy hour, so the wine was BOGO! I got the cheapest item on the menu: broccoli and potato soup, 120baht. Total, I paid 270baht, to include tip. $9 at a fancy restaurant isn't bad, but the total came to almost 1700 for 4 people, which is around $55. “It could be worse,” I said, remembering how I sometimes ate $40 one-person dinners in Italy and Slovenia nightly last interim trip. Very awkward time, overall, but very funny. We felt very out of place. It also felt weird because it was for tourists only. There was no Thai on the menu, only English and Italian. Strange!

Last night was pretty fun. We all piled in a seelaw, and stopped to get pad thai and roti and drinks on the way to Maria's. Then we walked about 15 minutes down the road to Maria's house. We were supposed to meet Surat at Maria's street, but we walked so fast that we passed her before she came to meet us. We got to the end of the street, and were very confused. While lost Farang may be a target, 19 lost Farang are not. We were just a spectacle for the kids who live in the houses around there. It was a pretty fun night, and we were home by 10 for a short nights sleep.

We got up at 5:15 to go give alms to the monks who walk by the morning market on their morning alms run at 6am. I paid 30 baht ($1) for a ready-to-eat meal and a flower.

“Nimon-ka” I said to the monk, wai-ing.

He stopped, and open the alms bowl monks carry with them. I put the food in there, careful not to touch the bowl, put the flower on top. Then I wai-ed really low to the ground in a crouch as he blessed me, and went on his way with his food. All monks are not allowed to eat after noon, and many only eat one meal a day which they cannot ask for, nor can they purchase (they have no money). If I were Buddhist, I would have earned some merit for my family, so my parents would have better karma, and improve their next life. I think that's how it works, anyway. Not so sure. The Sanskrit translated to Thai translated to not-so-great English with a thick accent loses some meaning along the way.

After feeding the monks, we went back to the hotel, and most people went to bed. I stayed up and did homework, though. I was a little behind on reading and writing, nor was I that tired. When breakfast opened at 7, I had quite a bit of coffee, then went back to work until it was time to leave.

We went to ISDSI, got a lecture on:

(1) Why we should dress modestly while with ISDSI (and I mean really modestly. Minimum cap sleeves with a crew neck, preferably pants but as long as our knees don't show, we could wear a skirt or capris)

(2) Thai Buddhism (this was the main lecture)(also a very thick accent, but he was funny). I got chosen (mid-yawn) to answer the pop quiz question from the speaker, Saemwang (sounds like “someone”) about what causes suffering in the world, according to Buddhism. I answered correctly with “desire.” Craving and desire cause suffering because of greed and hate. I have adopted a few precepts over the years to my “meligion,” and most of the Eightfold path is on there. Google it. I'll blog about it some other time.

(3) What to expect at our temple stay tomorrow night. No makeup, no perfume, no deodorant. Sounds like my kind of place! I am not sure what to expect actually, because they just told us stuff to bring and what not to do, so I still have no idea what we're going to do. Sabai Sabai! (It means “It's good, it's good!).

After, we ate delicious lunch with curried chicken, cooked cauliflower and cherry tomatoes, and rice with peanut sauce. Yum! We piled into the seelaws, and went to a temple for Monk Chat.

Monk Chat is a time where people can come and talk to monks and ask them questions. None of the 4 monks I spoke with were Thai, though. They were Burmese or Cambodian. There are different rules for Thai monks. Thai monks must shave their heads more closely and their eyebrows. Thai monks are not allowed to touch women, even indirectly. Putting food in the alms bowl is ok, as long as women don't touch the alms bowl. Burmese monks can touch women directly, as long as their heart is pure. We asked a lot of questions for well over an hour, about technology (monks can only use technology to help communicate with lay people, so cell phones and internet), education (all the monks we talked to planned to be monks for life, but “future cannot see,” and they were all getting bachelors degrees in Buddhist studies), communication (all of the non-Thai monks speak English as their primary language at the wat, because they can speak better English than Thai), and differences between Thai and other nearby culture. The monks say the Buddhism is the same as their countries, but that the culture changes how it works, like the touching women rule, for instance. That is only really in Thailand, not in Burma or Sri Lanka.

We also bought outfits for our trip to the meditation center. We must wear all white, loose appropriate clothing, so the best place to get it is at temples. We got a white t-shirt and a pair of white fishermen pants. Should be a comfortable couple of days at the center. Like I said, not sure what to expect, but you'll find out when I post next!

After I spent the afternoon reading, some of us went to find a place to do laundry. I had the hotel do some vitals, but it's expensive, like 50baht for a pair of pants, and 20baht per shirt. So I took the rest of my laundry to find a laundromat. The closest thing we found was Laundry House, where you put 20baht into the machine, put soap in, and either wait or leave. If you leave, the attendant will take your clothes and hang them to dry. You pick them up the next evening and they're dried and ironed. However, I just stuffed them in a plastic bag, and brought them back to the hotel to hang dry. Who needs neatly pressed clothing?

On our way home, we decided to stop and eat. We decided to try the Italian place Charlie said would be good. Turns out it's super fancy and expensive. Fancy enough where they unfold your napkin and put it on your lap for you. And here we are, backpacks and bags of wet clothes in hand. We learned a new phrase during the ISDSI lecture: farang kinoi. Birdshit foreigners. That's what we felt like. But, we ate there anyway, because we couldn't leave. Luckily, it was happy hour, so the wine was BOGO! I got the cheapest item on the menu: broccoli and potato soup, 120baht. Total, I paid 270baht, to include tip. $9 at a fancy restaurant isn't bad, but the total came to almost 1700 for 4 people, which is around $55. “It could be worse,” I said, remembering how I sometimes ate $40 one-person dinners in Italy and Slovenia nightly last interim trip. Very awkward time, overall, but very funny. We felt very out of place. It also felt weird because it was for tourists only. There was no Thai on the menu, only English and Italian. Strange!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Today was our first overnight visit. We got to sleep in, but I got up at 7:45, ate breakfast and headed to 7-11 for water and snacks and flashlights. Good idea, too. Our ride there were 3 vans, which were super comfortable, because the seats reclined. One of our running jokes on the trip is “This is more comfortable than our beds!” because anything with a cushion is more comfortable than our beds.

We left at 10am to head to a dara ang village. It was only a little over an hour away, but we stopped for lunch on the way there. ISDSI staff ordered us several kinds of food for us to share, such as papaya salad. That is actually the only thing I recognized, but the rest of it was good, too. I also got a coffee, which turned out to be iced heaven in a glass. Cold and sweet and caffeinated. Amazing!

When we got to the village, we dropped our stuff at the longhouse where we would be sleeping, and sat outside in the picnic benches for a lecture from UHDP, Uplander Holistic Development Project, which works with uplander farmers to create a sustainable farm and lifestyle. Instead of a corn monocrop with a lot of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, they rehabilitate the soil and grow local plants in a way the local plants are supposed to grow. They have fruit trees for a canopy level, coffee and rattan for a mid-level, and pineapple and lemongrass for a ground level. They are all integrated into each other, so there isn't one area that has only one kind of plant. The areas that grow corn also grow rice and beans so the soil doesn't get depleted, and the family is still able to feed itself. We also talked with local farmers about the dara ang culture and how they live.

After, the farmers gave us a tour, and we walked along the beautiful mountain path to the farm, where we ate coffee berries fresh from the tree, and they knocked down a papaya to cut up for us. They even gave us lemongrass to repel mosquitoes. It was so cool to see this beautiful area where all the plants were useful. Even the bamboo was helpful because it controlled the moisture in the ground so plants wouldn't rot and needed less irrigation during the dry season. They could also use it as a building material.

Then we went back and were fed. Hill rice (short grain) and chile bean paste, with fish tail palm sprout soup. It was delicious and filling. After dinner, we did a cultural exchange. Some local girls did songs and dances for us, and we sang and danced American songs like the Hokey Pokey and the Star Spangled Banner. All of us from both cultures knew Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, If You're Happy And You Know It, and the Itsy-Bitsy Spider.

Then it was an awkward bedtime. It gets dark at around 7, so the candles came out during dinner. By the time we had to go to bed, we had to coordinate flashlights and squatty potties, teeth brushing and face washing, then bed-making and finally, the couple hours between when we were ready for bed and when we were tired enough for bed. The squatty potty wasn't bad, except toilet paper doesn't make it down, so we had to keep a bag with dirty toilet paper next to the bathrooms. We can use the water to wash our faces and shower (Thai shower=dumping buckets of water over yourself, scrubbing, then dumping more buckets. Needless to say, no one took a shower there), but not to brush our teeth. So we have to somehow get toothpaste on our toothbrush, pour water on it, brush our teeth, rinse off our toothbrush all while holding a flashlight. Good times.

The longhouse is a one-room building with a lower middle aisle and two long sleeping platforms. It's made from bamboo with the roof from fan palm leaves. The village set up 18 areas with mosquito nets, thin mattresses, 2 blankets and a pillow. ISDSI also brought sleeping bags for us. It was fine sleeping at first, but by the time 1 or 2 am rolled around, we were freezing. Luckily I brought my winter coat, which was a good blanket, but my feet and legs froze. Also, the roosters started crowing at 4am. There are probably 100+ roosters in this village. It was impossible to sleep, but no one wanted to get up because we were tired and couldn't see anything. We got up around 7.

We were fed a breakfast very similar to the night before, with delicious squash along with our rice and greens soup. Then we went to the K-6 school, where we split into groups of 2 or 3, and went to different grade levels. Katrina and I went to 1st grade. They already knew the ABCs and how to count to 10 in English. So we taught them animals, colors, body parts (Head shoulders knees and toes was sung around 5 times). It was very fun and cute.

Then we had another hour or so of Q&A with the villagers, lunch (again, delicious rice, squash soup and fishtail soup), and then back on the buses for a relaxing afternoon. In an hour or so, we're going to a party at an Ole alums house. She teaches English at the University here, and invited us over for the evening. Should be fun!

Today, we got to sleep in! Our morning meeting time was at 9:45, so I woke up at 8 to a leisurely breakfast of rice soup with chicken. Ryan (the prof) and Lori (the guest who is also the administrative assistant) decided to buy a lot of fruit and cereal and milk for us, so I also had pineapple, papaya and cornflakes with breakfast. Yum yum!

We started by going to a lecture at ISDSI with a man from the government who works in the branch that deals with highlander issues. His lecture was … interesting. We have read many articles that share how 60% of highlanders in Thailand do not have citizenship to Thailand, or any country, because they have not been considered “real Thais.” The government has started to fix this, but it's slow going because the highlanders do not have a lot of taxable income, but they would demand a lot from the government in terms of services. By a lot, I mean schools, hospitals, public sanitation, etc. Necessities. Anyway, this lecturer basically said that everything is perfect with these quaint indigenous ethnic tribes. All of them are citizens, and they're assimilating famously. He irritated a lot of people in our class.

We at lunch at ISDSI and headed up the mountain to visit two Hmong villages. Three of the students on our trip are Hmong American, so they helped translate for us. The first village is the village closest to Chiang Mai, and is a tourist trap now. I had to walk about 5 minutes through sellers booths before I exited the market and walked around their neighborhood. The houses were mostly wood, but not very high quality. A few of the houses had glass windows and were made with cement. Pretty ritzy as far as highlander villages go.

The other village was made all out of wood. When we got there, we split into 3 teams, one with each Hmong American. The first people we talked to were a couple of boys, about age 8 or 9, who were cockfighting. Others were playing with spinning tops, and others were playing with action figures or sticks. Apparently Hmong new year ended yesterday, so the people had to go back to work in the fields. Overall it was a very cool place. Several places sold Ovaltine and coffee. Everywhere in Thailand sells Ovaltine.

Anyway, we then headed back down the mountain. At this point, very few people weren't nauseous from the altitude (we were on top of a mountain after all), the winding drive around the mountain, and the fumes from the seelaws exhaust that drifted into the back of the seelaws.

When we got back, we had 30 minutes before a language lesson. We split into 3 groups with Charlie, an Ole alum/expat, Surat and another former exchange student from St. Olaf. I was in Charlie's group, and we covered how to bargain with shopkeepers.

After, a few of us went to The Salad Express, which serves salad. Big big salads. It was a “build your own” salad place. You pick 5 toppings and they bring you a giant salad. I could only finish ¾ of mine. I also got a smoothie called a Relax Smoothie! It was good, filling healthy dinner. Expensive, though. It came to 125 baht, which is about 4 times the amount I usually pay for dinner. Probably because it was a Farang restaurant, not a local restaurant. Farang = foreign, colloquially. Farang literally translates to a kind of fruit, but farang sounds like foreign.

Today was our free day! Our day to sleep in, to walk around town, to do whatever we want! 21/22 of us decided to go on an elephant day. On the bus by 6:45, at the place by 8. However, when we go there, we have to cross swaying wooden footbridge with bamboo railings. I, with my bridge phobia, sucked it up and went across, grabbing the railings. Of course, I didn't notice the railing was covered, swarming with ants. Gross and icky and still on the swaying bridge. Eventually got across, but it was very unpleasant and not fun at all.

Then we walked through the elephant village where they bathe and perform, and where locals sell elephant souvenirs. We rode on the elephants 2 people per elephant, on a small bench with a safety belt on the elephants back. Emily and I rode together. It was a lot of fun! Except downhill areas, during which we had to cling to the back of the seat so we would stay on. I now have a bruise forming on my bicep. Wonderful!

Lunch was good. We sat at tables of 4, and were served 5 different meals to share: sweet and sour pork, hot and sour chicken soup, pad thai, spring rolls, and cashew chicken stir-fry. The vegetarian kid got a table all to himself, so the tour guide, Arty, ate with him.

We then went down to the river bank, and got on bamboo rafts. It was a very Huck Finn moment. The rafter let us push the raft with the poles. It was a lot of fun! Very relaxing to just chill on a sunny river for an hour.

When we got back to the hotel, a few of us decided to go to the Chiang Mai Zoo. We flagged a seelaw, told him where we wanted to go, he told us 20 baht each, which was reasonable, so we got in and were proud of ourselves for doing it on our own. Anyway, we got to the zoo, which is 100 baht for entry, and another 100 baht to see the pandas. Of course we wanted to see the pandas! So we walked around a bit, and looked at the animals. There was a big Ovaltine party happening. About 100 feet of Ovaltine booths, playing happy pop music for “Obartine.” It was a very odd moment. Also odd, you can pay 150 baht to go inside the Snow Dome for 5 minutes. It's pretty much a big freezer with manufactured snow, and you put on a big parka and take your picture inside “Xtreme Alaska!” which is approximately -7C. I suppose if you live in the tropics, snow doesn't happen, but I was not willing to pay $5 to go and sit in a cooler for 5 minutes.

The pandas were adorable. They were all in separate enclosures, but they were still adorable. The third one was a little sad. He was pacing and pawing at the door. He also took a poo in what seemed to be a designated toilet area, and then went to his pond and cleaned himself off. Very civilized. His poo is orange, by the way. There is a Mom, Dad and Baby panda at the zoo. The pictures on the walls showed in great detail how the baby was made by artificial insemination. They showed pictures of someone gathering the semen, and another putting the semen into the female panda. It's a little awkward and undignified for the pandas.

The zoo is on a mountain, so we got a workout. The funniest animal we saw was probably the Malayan Sun Bears, which look dopey, and have turned-in front feet. They just looked silly. The cutest we saw were the hippos. There's a little hippo family, but the baby hippo can't reach the top of the water without jumping and getting a quick breath, or standing on one of the parents. It was very playful. The enclosures there are not so secure. Not much is keeping the animals in, or out of reach from people. I could have pet one of the hippos if I had leaned in a little bit. The lions were just really far away, with two small pits in between us. At least they were just asleep the whole time.

We started walking back and stopped at CMU to see if their cantin was open, because they have meals for 15 baht. Alas, it was a Sunday, so only the dorm cantins were open. Instead, we took a seelaw back to the hotel to meet everyone going to the Sunday Night Market, in the old city. To get there, all 18 of us got in a seelaw. Two people on laps, 2 on the floor and 3 hanging on the back. It was fun, but hot.

The night market was insanely crowded. I got a pad thai omelet, which is some pad thai in the center of an omelet, and a papaya smoothie. Delicious, and surprisingly easy to eat with chopsticks. We walked around for a little while, but it was so crowded, it was impossible to get around. So we tried to find a seelaw to get back. Several tuk tuks offered to take us back for 50baht per person. Nope, so we kept looking and eventually found a seelaw, for 20baht per person. We hopped in, and a British guy was already there, who looked very uncomfortable to be sharing a seelaw with a bunch of loud American kids. He got out at his hotel, and then a bunch of Chinese women got in, all laden down with several bags and popsicles. They chattered a while, and didn't realize the seelaw had stopped at their hotel until the driver told them to get out. Finally we got back, and I had time to do homework for tomorrow.

Today has been a very long day. We woke up at 5:30, breakfast at 6 and on the bus by 6:30! We went on a guided tour of Northern Thailand. Our final destination, the Golden Triangle, is a 4 hours drive from Chiang Mai. We took lots of breaks. We stopped at a hot springs about an hour into our trip. We put our feet into the hot water. You have to just plunge it in. If you tippytoe it, you will just burn your feet. If you dunk them, the lowest layer of water along the rocks is cooler, and your calves have less nerves, so it doesn't hurt as much. I bought a pair of pants and a bracelet. This is my bargaining proud moment. They told me 850 baht, which is ridiculously peeng (expensive). I counter-offered with 150 which is ridiculously cheap. They went down to 750, and I went up to 200. They said no, I said no. I walked away, and they said “Ok! 200!” Win for Catey.

Then we went to a Seven Eleven. I used an ATM for the first time here. 5000 baht for $170 and a $5 ATM charge. I then bought a bunch of snacks, like cookies and candy and soymilk. The soymilk and cookies hit the spot. The candy (dried mangos, and hard plum candy) was a major miss. The dried mango tasted and felt like fingers, and the plum candy wasn't bad, but it was Old People Candy. You know, the candy that old people have in their house that only they like so the kids won't eat all of it.

Anyway, back on the bus until we got to Chiang Rai, where we switched to seelaws because we were going to two villages. The first village was an Akha village. They build their houses out of bamboo, and they're elevated. It was really cool to see, but the kids and grannies followed us around, pestering us with bracelets they wanted to sell us and begging us to take pictures with them for a baht. There were a lot of cute dogs, though. And chickens.

The second village was a Yuan village, who originated from China. Their houses are also bamboo, but are built on the ground, not a platform. They also sold things, but didn't follow us around as much. They sold us sticky rice for 5 baht. Sticky rice is a sweet rice patty/taffy that is grilled, served with sugar, and wrapped in a banana leaf. You don't eat the banana leaf. It is very delicious. They decorate their houses with large dead bugs, too. Luckily, we haven't seen any of those bugs. Just mosquitoes and little biting bugs. I am still bug-bite free, however!

We got back on the bus, and headed north again. We stopped for lunch at the Golden Triangle on the Thai side, which was an international buffet. I had Myanmar chicken curry and Thai pancakes, among other things. It wasn't bad, but it also served chicken a la king, and sauerkraut.

Then, we got on speedboats to cross the Mekong River! I sat in front. They're low river speedboats, with a car engine for a motor. Toyota, to be more specific. Very very fast. We went upriver to No Mans Land, which is the area in the river between Burma/Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. We did not go to Burma, but we did go to Laos to the market that has sprung up there. The specialty there is snake whiskey. Or scorpion, or turtle or tiger penis, etc. Basically a bottle of whiskey with a dead animal (or part of a dead animal) inside of it. I didn't try any, but a lot of people did. Gross! They also sold a lot of opium pipes there, because of the regions history with the opium trade. Also, a lot of knockoff brands of clothing and jewelry, etc. I didn't buy anything in Laos.

After we crossed the Mekong again, we piled back on the bus for a long trip back to Chiang Mai. We stopped at a wat on the way, and Artie showed us how to make offerings to monks and temples. A monk there blessed us, gave us simple white yarn bracelets for protection, and we were on our way again.

Today, we went to Chiang Mai University (CMU). We started the day in a conversation class taught by an Ole alum who graduated 2 years ago. Her conversation class is a class for English students (as in those learning to speak English) to practice conversations with each other, because you can know every word and nuance of grammar and still not be fluent because you don't know how to have a conversation with someone in that language. We paired up with the students, so Anna and I partnered and talked with “Claire” and “Kiss.” They are second year students majoring in English and Psychology respectively. Very nice, very friendly girls.

We then practiced our observation skills by conducting an observation in their school cafeteria, the canteen. Everyone drinks from straws, even with plastic bottles. It's a little weird. We also had a lecture from a professor who studies Japanese and Thai culture comparatively. His accent was very thick, but understandable. He didn't have time to prepare the English version of the lecture, so it was very good considering. His handwriting was scribbles though.

We ate lunch in the Humanities cantin. Every department (faculty) and dorm has their own cafeteria. We played “point and hope it's good” again. It turned out pretty well. I ended up with curried sweet potatoes, and squid with sugar snap peas, and a strawberry smoothie. It was very good. Thai portions are the perfect size. I don't feel hungry and I don't feel full.

After lunch, we went to the Old City. It's very ornate and decorative. There is gold leaf on everything, and monks in saffron robes are everywhere. There are also a lot of dogs. I donated 20baht to feed the Temple Dogs.

After we got back, we got coffee and went to an internet cafe/massage parlor. Less sketchy than I anticipated. Of course, we couldn't actually see the massage side so it probably was sketchy. I paid 20baht for an hour on a nice computer. Then, we went downstairs to “Organic Vegetables” and I got tofu broccoli stir fry for 30 baht. Yum!

I did not sleep well at all last night. Despite the fact that I was running on 4 hours of sleep for the past 3 days, I woke up after about 3 hours, and continued to wake up every 20-60 minutes after that. I woke with a headache that stayed with me for most of the day.

Breakfast was eggs, tomatoes, toast and coffee. It was delicious and exactly what I needed.

We started off the day taking seelaws to ISDSI. Seelaws are red pickup trucks with tall toppers over the bed, and benches in them. They're a mix between busses and taxis. You flag them on the side of the road, haggle a price per person for where you want to go, and then hop in the back. However, you may not be the only passenger, because they stop to pick up more people if they have room.

Anyway, ISDSI stands for International Sustainable Development Studies Institute, which is a group which studies development and sustainability through agriculture and education. We had a lecture from Amanda, a PhD candidate from Cornell, who talked about citizenship in Thailand, and why many people who have lived in Thailand for hundreds of years are not recognized as Thai citizens. They then brought in lunch for everyone. I am not entirely sure what I ate, but there were many delicious greens, overcooked bacon and congealed blood. ...Yum... (it actually wasn't bad. Liver-ish).

Then we went to an elementary school to learn how schools function here, and explore how schools deal with students who don't have citizenship (all school is provided for free from 1-9th grade). The talked with the principle of the school and a professor from CMU. Two girls brought everyone coffee and a snack for everyone. It was awesome. We played with the 6th graders, and we taught them songs and they taught us songs.

After, I went to the mall. I needed shampoo and conditioner. I bought some for 70 baht each. They're dark purple in color, which is weird to me. I also bought a nice green Thai shirt. One thing I learned about Thai culture at the mall is that when people walk past each other, they walk toward their left, not their right. They drive on the other side of the road as well.

I ate dinner with a few people at the restaurant in front of the organic vegetables restaurant. We don't know its name because I can't read Thai. 30 baht for a good sized and good tasting sweet and sour chicken.

Well, I am in Thailand. Awesome! It's so nice and warm here and it smells wonderful!

To describe the first long day of the trip (which is actually 2 ½ days): The plane ride from MSP to Tokyo was really long and boring. A 12 hour flight with only romantic comedies to watch on a screen I can't really see? Lame. I did homework on the plane, because we have a 3-inch reading packet, and a good quarter of an inch was due by the time we landed, as well as a 2 page write-up about what we read. Our layover in Tokyo was nonexistent. We landed, went through security and walked to the gate just as they called the final boarding call.

This plane ride was much better. 7 hour plane ride from Tokyo to Bangkok, and the seats were more comfortable, and we had individual movies and games and stuff. I tried to watch a Bollywood movie called “3 Idiots” but by then it was 6am in the Midwest, so I fell asleep during it. I'll have to netflix it at some point.

The layover in Bangkok was...interesting! We landed at midnight, and we couldn't get our boarding passes until 5am, and the flight didn't leave until 8am. So, we couldn't get through security until after 5am, so we just hung out in the awkward ticketing area for 5 hours. I tried to sleep because it was midnight but it was 11am in Central time, so it did not work. The cold tile floor is not comfortable enough to sleep on. I got some coffee and a sandwich around 2am (1pm Midwest time), and did more homework and read for pleasure for the first time since June. After we got our boarding pass, we were able to sit in the business class lounge, use the internet, eat the free food, etc for the last couple hours. The plane ride to Chiang Mai was short and uneventful. Nice meal though, but it was weird to be served a meal for an hour-long flight. However, I did have a window seat, which was great. The other flights, I was in the middle seat.

Once we got off the plane, we realized how awesome it was! It is like a warm late spring day in Minnesota. Not too humid, but delightfully warm and sunny. The air smells alive, like in the Como Conservatory.

Furthermore, our hotel is the greatest place on Earth. We're in the city the same size as Minneapolis, but it's like we're in the jungle. It's a magical garden that happens to be a hotel. It is so extravagantly decorated that we find exciting and beautiful touches at every turn. There is so much detail everywhere, from the wonderful light canopy on my four-poster bed to the bright blue shrimp in the aquarium. The pets here are amazing! There are 4 cats, which are the weirdest cats ever. There are many fish in the ponds and aquariums. My favorite though are the birds. There are about 8 birds in cages around the gardens. Some of them are trained to talk. I have heard them bark like little dogs, meow like cats, wolf whistle, and say “hello” and “sawatdee-ka.” They're so great. I took about 50 pictures of the hotel, so hopefully you will understand how awesome and delightful this hotel is. We can hear distant air and vehicle traffic, but mostly birds and frogs and the rustling of the gentle breeze through the plants.

My only complaint is the extremely hard mattresses and the frogs which all decide to croak in unison loudly at night. The bathroom isn't wonderful, but it's liveable. It has a shower and a Thai shower tub. Thai showers involve dumping a bucket of cold water over yourself, lathering up and then dumping more cold water over yourself until the soap is gone. I'm sure it feels great in 110 degree humid air, but when its 80 and not humid, it's just overkill. Thai people don't shower as often in winter (I know, it's winter, right?) because it is just cold, and not as refreshing.

Finally, on the 5th, we met with Charlie and Surat. Surat was an exchange student, and Charlie graduated from Olaf a couple years ago. They gave us a tour of the area around our hotel. Crossing the street here is insane! Cars are crazy. Crossing at corners is not practical. You just have to jaywalk by waiting for a break in the traffic and hoping cars stop. Sometimes, you can't even wait for a break in the traffic, you just have to make one. Our first dinner in Chiang Mai was at this crazy buffet. Rows and rows of food on tables, which you bring back to your table and cook on the little hot pots that were on each table. I ate panda-shaped fish and pig intestine as well as a lot of vegetables and fruit and dessert. It came to about $7 for the buffet, which included live music. It was located in this giant warehouse type place, and reminded me of a meal at a flea market or fairgrounds. If I had stumbled upon it, I probably would not have eaten there, but it was new and fun, so I'm glad Sue and Charlie brought us there.

After, we went to the night market, which is a bunch of street vendors selling things. I bought a pair of dark gray fisherman pants. They're super comfy, and cost $3.30.

Friday, January 7, 2011

In any case, internet is few and far between. I'm going to try to update this once a week from my laptop and not the internet cafe computer, where I am now. 20baht for an hour! (about 60 cents).

Revelation of the day: Chiang Mai University students pay 5000 baht per semester (about $170). St. Olaf students pay 1,350,000 baht per year. Average monthly income in Thailand is about 3000 baht ($100). So far the most I've paid for a meal is 100 baht (a little over $3). I am so wealthy here, it's ridiculous.

Anyway, I'll get some posts prepared, and put them up soon. Tomorrow, we're going to the Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma meet. We're actually going into Laos for a bit. Not Burma though, even though it's only a footbridge across a river to get there. Probs not a good idea...